Sustainability Studies Program

The purpose of the Sustainability Studies Program is to prepare students to be educated citizens, to be conversant with the sustainability-related issues and tasks that arise in the modern workplace, and to pursue careers as sustainability professionals. Sustainability Studies currently offers an 18-credit minor that may be combined with any major field of study.

Sustainability is most often defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. As such, it focuses upon the interaction of natural, economic, and social systems. This triple focus is reflected in kindred concepts such as “corporate social responsibility” and “triple bottom line accounting.”

The rising importance of sustainability has been accompanied by an increased demand within all kinds of organizations—public, private, and nonprofit—for employees conversant with the issues and tasks involved. Individuals who devote themselves full-time or part-time to these tasks are known as “sustainability professionals.” Common duties of sustainability professionals include:

compiling regular reports on the organization’s environmental, social, and economic performance, both locally and throughout the world

maintaining outreach to important stakeholders such as the local community, governmental officials, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, shareholders, and the media

creating and monitoring management plans for natural resources owned or impacted by the organization

educating and motivating fellow employees

All of these tasks require an ability to communicate across disciplinary boundaries. This emphasis on communication across boundaries is reflected in the design and delivery of the Sustainability Studies curriculum at UMass Dartmouth. The participating faculty and students represent a wide range of academic disciplines, and many non-faculty members of the campus community participate in the program as well.

Participating Faculty

Robert Darst (Program Director), Associate Professor of Political Science